Blind rivets are widely used in industry, commerce and by homeowners. The present invention is particularly applicable to industrial usage although it may be employed in the other areas mentioned above.
In the modern aerospace industry, as an example, blind rivets or bolts as they are sometimes called, are used extensively in assembling airframes and particularly hollow wing sections employed as fuel storage tanks. A problem often develops due to leakage around the rivets. As in other blind rivet installations for fastening together two pieces of metal or other materials such as composites, the rivet which may be of metal or a composite, is inserted in aligned holes of the plates or members to be joined, a center shaft of the rivet which is attached to the head of the rivet on the blind side, is clamped in jaws and pulled until the head is upset and then the region of the rivet at the access side is upset with the plates clamped between the two upset regions.
In the above example, the rivet-hole combination, although closely toleranced, often leaves small spaces around the rivets causing drippage of fuel usually at a very slow but still undesirable rate.
The above example is just one use for blind rivets where liquid or even fluid tight performance is desired if not required. Assembly of any structure requiring fluid tight construction with blind rivets is a ready candidate for the improvements provided by the present invention.